New Publication: The fragility of artists’ reputations from 1795 to 2020

On By Dilan ErenIn Announcements, PublicationsLeave a comment

The fragility of artists’ reputations from 1795 to 2020 by Letian Zhang, Mitali Banerjee, Shinan Wang, and Zhuoqiao Hong.

Abstract

This study explores the longevity of artistic reputation. We empirically examine whether artists are more- or less-venerated after their death. We construct a massive historical corpus spanning 1795 to 2020 and build separate word-embedding models for each five-year period to examine how the reputations of over 3,300 famous artists—including painters, architects, composers, musicians, and writers—evolve after their death. We find that most artists gain their highest reputation right before their death, after which it declines, losing nearly one SD every century. This posthumous decline applies to artists in all domains, includes those who died young or unexpectedly, and contradicts the popular view that artists’ reputations endure. Contrary to the Matthew effect, the reputational decline is the steepest for those who had the highest reputations while alive. Two mechanisms—artists’ reduced visibility and the public’s changing taste—are associated with much of the posthumous reputational decline. This study underscores the fragility of human reputation and shows how the collective memory of artists unfolds over time.

New Publications

On By Julia DessauerIn PublicationsLeave a comment

Kincaid, R., & Reynolds, J. (2023). Unconventional Work, Conventional Problems: Gig Microtask Work, Inequality, and the Flexibility Mystique. The Sociological Quarterly, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00380253.2023.2268679

Gig work platforms often promise workers flexibility and freedom from formal constraints on their work schedules. Some scholars have questioned whether this “formal flexibility” actually helps people arrange gig work around non-work commitments, but few studies have examined this empirically. This paper examines how hours spent in microtask work – a form of gig work with high formal flexibility – influence work-to-life conflict (WLC) relative to conventional work hours, and how these relationships differ by workers’ gender and financial situation. Fixed-effects regressions using panel data from workers on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform (MTurk) suggest that microtask work hours are just as closely associated with WLC as conventional work hours. Moreover, microtask work disadvantages the same groups as conventional work (i.e. women and financially struggling workers). Only financially comfortable men seem immune from microtask hours’ association with WLC. This suggests that the benefits of gig work’s formal flexibility are often elusive. We argue that platforms like MTurk promote a flexibility mystique: the illusory promise that gig work empowers workers to set their own schedules and earn decent income without disrupting their personal/family lives. The gig economy’s expansion may thus do little to bring work-life balance to the masses or alleviate inequalities at the work-life nexus.

The Accidental Equalizer: How Luck Determines Pay After College by Jessi Streib

A startling discovery—that job market success after college is largely random—forces a reappraisal of education, opportunity, and the American dream.

As a gateway to economic opportunity, a college degree is viewed by many as America’s great equalizer. And it’s true: wealthier, more connected, and seemingly better-qualified students earn exactly the same pay as their less privileged peers. Yet, the reasons why may have little to do with bootstraps or self-improvement—it might just be dumb luck. That’s what sociologist Jessi Streib proposes in The Accidental Equalizer, a conclusion she reaches after interviewing dozens of hiring agents and job-seeking graduates.

Streib finds that luck shapes the hiring process from start to finish in a way that limits class privilege in the job market. Employers hide information about how to get ahead and force students to guess which jobs pay the most and how best to obtain them. Without clear routes to success, graduates from all class backgrounds face the same odds at high pay. The Accidental Equalizer is a frank appraisal of how this “luckocracy” works and its implications for the future of higher education and the middle class. Although this system is far from eliminating American inequality, Streib shows that it may just be the best opportunity structure we have—for better and for worse.

CFP: EGOS 2024 – “The Impact of Organizational Practices on Workplace Diversity and Inequality”

On By Julia DessauerIn Calls for Papers, Calls for Participants, UncategorizedLeave a comment

EGOS 2024 – Milan, Italy
Subtheme 71: ” The Impact of Organizational Practices on Workplace Diversity and Inequality “

We would like to bring to your attention the colloquium on “The Impact of Organizational Practices on Workplace Diversity and Inequality,” which we are convening as part of the European Group of Organization Studies’ (EGOS) 40th annual conference in Milan, Italy. The conference will take place on July 4-6, 2024.

Our purpose is to bring together a group of researchers who share a concern for advancing our knowledge of the mechanisms through which organizations influence diversity and inequality in the labor market. We welcome papers from different disciplines and at all levels of analysis.

If you are interested, we encourage you to submit a short paper (3,000 words) before January 9th, 2024. You can access the call for papers here:

https://www.egos.org/jart/prj3/egos/main.jart?rel=de&reserve-mode=active&content-id=1662944489704&subtheme_id=1669874219526

Call for Participants: 2024 CASBS Summer Institute

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Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University

Organizations and Their Effectiveness

July 7 through July 20, 2024

Directors
Robert Gibbons (rgibbons@mit.edu), economics and management, MIT

Woody Powell (woodyp@stanford.edu), education and sociology, Stanford University

ABOUT THE CASBS SUMMER INSTITUTE

The sixth CASBS summer institute on Organizations and Their Effectiveness will occur from July 7 through July 20, 2024, at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences on the Stanford University campus. Fifteen fellowships will be awarded to cover tuition, room and board, and travel.

There are two important dates in the application process: (1) the complete application, including the letter of support, is due December 13, 2023; and (2) fellowship awards will be announced by email no later than January 29, 2024.

TOPICS AND PURPOSE

Organizations are all around us: not just firms, plants, and work groups, but also hospitals, schools, and governments. Furthermore, by construing an “organization” as something that can be first organized and then managed, one can also include certain relationships — not only between firms (such as some hand-in-glove supply relationships, joint ventures, and alliances) but also between a government and a firm (such as some regulatory relationships and public-private partnerships).Indeed, noting that the examples above are all opportunities to collaborate, one can move beyond formal organization charts and formal contracts to include communities, networks, social movements and other less formal institutions as organized activities.

Given such a broad domain, a huge fraction of economic activity, as well as much political and social activity, is undertaken in, with, or by organizations. Put differently, if organizations are how we collaborate, it is important to get them right! For example, the gains from improving production activities and supply chains in low-income countries could be enormous. Also, learning from the “bright spots” among hospitals, schools, and governments, and understanding how these successes might be spread, could be immensely valuable. Finally, although industrial productivity in high-income countries may seem mundane to some, improving the effectiveness of such firms might nonetheless allow substantial improvements in the quality of life—both for the workforces in these firms and for the communities that experience the products and externalities these firms produce.

If organizational effectiveness is so important for innovation and social impact, one might think that academics would be studying the issue actively. To some extent, this is true, but the field is badly fragmented: different disciplines operate mostly in isolation; many professional schools focus on only their own kind of organization (e.g., hospitals, schools, public agencies, businesses). Meanwhile, social-science departments often regard organizational effectiveness as outside their purview; and doctoral training in professional schools sometimes lacks the depth available in social-science departments.

In response to this situation, the 2024 summer institute will begin with presentations about how economics and sociology approach the study of organizations (with other disciplines to follow). In addition, to build community, there will be frequent group discussions and projects (“hacks”) on thorny organizational ideas and problems, as well as dinner conversations with scholars and practitioners who have been deeply involved in the worlds of politics, law, journalism and business. In sum, the first week will be a very intensive experience.

Besides the two directors, the full-time participants in the first week will be young scholars (ranging from advanced assistant professors to late-stage graduate students) drawn from a wide range of disciplines and fields (not just economics and sociology; typically also political science, communications, organizational behavior and strategy), whose careers studying organizations are underway, and who have demonstrated an interest in and an aptitude for expanding their thinking about organizations towards other disciplines.

The first week will also include a “guest chef”—a senior scholar studying organizations from outside economics and sociology—who will visit for about 24 hours, typically involving both lectures and a hack.

The second week will be in two phases. On Monday and Tuesday July 15 and 16, the full-time participants and spirit of the first week will continue. There will probably be a second guest chef, representing another discipline or methodology.

Then, on Wednesday, July 17 through Friday, July 19, participants from the fifth summer institute (2023) will be invited back to CASBS to join in a convocation with the 2024 cohort, concluding with dinner on Friday. Finally, on Saturday, July 20, the group will return to being just the directors and the 2024 full-time participants, with the institute concluding over lunch.

The second part of the second week (Wednesday, July 17 through Friday, July 19) may also include a few members of the first four cohorts (2016–19). Naturally, members of the early cohorts are now further along in their careers than the new participants in 2024 will be—albeit less far along than the senior scholars who serve as guest chefs. Also, members of the early cohorts represent a wide range of the disciplines and fields that study organizations and other organized activities; for example, fewer than half are from economics or sociology. The convocation on July 17–19 of the 2024 summer institute may leverage the expertise of the early cohorts to emphasize additional disciplines and fields studying organizations (perhaps in smaller versions of the guest-chef role described above).

ELIGIBILITY

Those eligible to apply include junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows and very advanced graduate students from the social and behavioral sciences and allied professional schools. We are also interested in applications from scholars affiliated with four-year colleges and with colleges and universities attended predominately by minority students.

Accepted applicants will be expected to arrive prepared by having read a syllabus of about 20 key papers and surveys.

LOCATION

The Center is located on a beautiful hillside overlooking the Stanford University campus. Comfortable studies in restful surroundings will be provided.

SUPPORT

Admitted applicants will be offered a fellowship that will cover all expenses, including transportation (within the usual university-mandated constraints on travel expenses). Lodging will be provided and meals will be covered. Though not required, any financial contribution from a participant’s home institution would be greatly appreciated.

APPLICATION

The application consists of: (i) a cover letter providing contact information and the name of the recommendation writer; (ii) a curriculum vitae (for faculty, this should include not only research but also courses taught; for doctoral students, not only research but also courses taken); (iii) a two-page essay explaining how the institute will advance the applicant’s research; and (iv) one letter of support, which will be treated confidentially and submitted

through our secure application system.

Application portal can be accessed at

https://applycasbs.stanford.edu/summerapplication/

Job Posting: William Burwell Harrison Distinguished Professorship of Sociology, UNC

On By Julia DessauerIn Job PostingsLeave a comment

The Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites applications for a Senior Full Professor to fill the William Burwell Harrison Distinguished Professorship of Sociology. We seek applications from scholars specializing in any area of Sociology who exhibit a record of strong and innovative research and excellence in teaching. Applications from scholars studying immigration, work or inequality are especially welcome. Candidates’ work should align with our departmental mission and values as outlined on our website.

https://my.asanet.org/Job-Bank-Information/Job-Bank/JBctl/ViewJob/JobID/19745

Job Posting: Open Rank – Tenure Track Faculty Position in Healthcare Management

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The Department of Health Policy & Management (HPM) of Columbia University’s, Mailman School of Public Health invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in healthcare management at the level of assistant professor or higher, beginning 07/01/2024.

HPM seeks scholars who conduct research related to healthcare management. Individuals with doctoral degrees from any relevant field (including healthcare management, psychology, economics, sociology, management, strategy, health services research, and others) are encouraged to apply.

Assistant professor

Candidates appointed at the Assistant Professor rank will have a strong research portfolio and a commitment to excellence in both teaching and research. In particular, we seek individuals who could teach management and organizational behavior, strategy, qualitative methods, and/or quantitative methods at the Masters level.  

Associate Professor or Professor

Candidates appointed at the Associate or Professor rank will be asked to lead in both research and educational endeavors within the department.  They will have an established research portfolio, a demonstrated capacity to secure substantial external funding, and the ability to teach management and organizational behavior, strategy, qualitative methods and/or quantitative methods. 

Successful candidates will be joining one of the first health policy and management programs in the country.  Founded in 1945, HPM has a long history of participation in research, teaching, and service designed to produce more effective, efficient, and equitable health systems,

the mission of HPM’s Management Program is to conduct research that generates actionable insights and to create an inclusive educational environment for students with a range of professional and academic experience from across the globe.

Successful applicants will demonstrate an understanding of this mission.

HPM’s multidisciplinary faculty blend research and education on the development, implementation, and evaluation of health policies and the administrative functioning of health systems and organizations. We train master’s level students in health policy and health administration to become the next generation of healthcare leaders and policy makers. As a department and faculty, we maintain close ties with Columbia’s Graduate School of Business, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, College of Physicians and Surgeons, and School of International and Public Affairs, as well as with many New York area healthcare delivery and research institutions.


Application materials

To apply, please submit: 

  • a cover letter explaining your interest in the position and how your research and/or teaching demonstrates a commitment to the Management Program’s mission
  • a current curriculum vitae
  • a research statement that makes clear how your work advances the discipline of healthcare management
  • a sample of research
  • a teaching statement
  • contact information for three recommenders.  

The direct link for this position is:  https://apply.interfolio.com/134499.

Please address any questions to the search committee co-chairs, Yuna Lee (ysl2118@cumc.columbia.edu) or John McHugh (jpm2192@cumc.columbia.edu). Application deadline November 15, 2023.

Columbia University values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds. Columbia University is an equal opportunity employer and an affirmative action employer. Columbia University is committed to ensuring that University employment is based upon personal capabilities and qualifications without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence, alienage or citizenship status, creed, genetic predisposition or carrier status, unemployment status, or any other protected characteristic as established by law.

Salary Range: $120,000 – $260,000

Assistant Professor – $120,000

Associate Professor – $140,000 – $190,000

Professor – $180,000 – $260,000

Upcoming Event: Socio-Economic Review Cafe— Close Relationships, Trust, and the Economy

On By Julia DessauerIn WorkshopsLeave a comment

Socio-Economic Review Cafe: Close Relationships, Trust, and the Economy

Featuring a conversation with SER authors Wenjuan Zheng (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), David Shulman (Lafayette College), and Kent Grayson (Northwestern University) 

Join us for a discussion of close relationships and the potential and pitfalls of trust in the economy, as well as the ways technology can mediate these dynamics. Shulman and Grayson’s paper “Et Tu, Brute? Unraveling the puzzle of deception and broken trust in close relations” (2023)  discusses why closeness, as with friends or coworkers, is no guarantee of trust, revisiting theoretical discussions of trust to shed light on detection errors and associational dilemmas. Meanwhile, Zheng’s paper “Converting donation to transaction: how platform capitalism exploits relational labor in non-profit fundraising” (2023) investigates what happens when platforms intermediate trusting relationships, demonstrating how they reconfigure charity events and mediate civic interactions through invisible value extraction. 

Together, these papers offer insights into how trust is built, maintained, and challenged in a world increasingly facilitated by technology. 

The event will take place on Thursday, November 16th, at 9AM PST/12PM EST/6PM CET. Register at this link!

As with all SER Cafe events, we will facilitate a dynamic conversation with the authors rather than lengthy talks. Come ready to engage. 

Call for Papers: RSF, Asians in America Beyond Education: Career Choices, Trajectories, and Mobility Strategies

On By Dilan ErenIn Calls for PapersLeave a comment
Image

CALL FOR ARTICLES

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

Asians in America Beyond Education: Career Choices, Trajectories, and Mobility Strategies

Jennifer Lee
Columbia University

Kimberly Goyette
Temple University

Jackson G. Lu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Xi Song
University of Pennsylvania

Yu Xie
Princeton University

The Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in university admissions in early 2023, in large part due to allegations that Harvard University had engaged in racial discrimination against Asian Americans. Amidst mixed evidence of bias against Asian applicants in Harvard’s admissions process, SCOTUS ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Asian Americans are not underrepresented in university classrooms, however, including at Harvard. They account for 7.2 percent of the U.S. population, yet 29.9 percent of Harvard’s incoming class. Charges of bias against Asians have focused mainly on university admissions, with scant attention to its more widespread and insidious forms, including in the workplace where they would benefit from affirmative action.

Research on Asians in America has focused disproportionately on their exceptional educational achievement. In spite of social scientists’ explanations of these patterns, the narrow focus on education has had the unintended consequence of reifying the perception that Asians are the advantaged minority—or the so-called “model minority. While Asians outpace all groups in education, they lose their advantage in the workplace. That Asians do not maintain their advantage in the labor market makes this domain worthy of inquiry. Hence, we go beyond education and invite research proposals that address questions about the labor market choices, trajectories, mobility strategies, cultural orientations, and family-related behavior of Asians in America.

In the call for articles, we invite papers that address questions about the labor market choices, career trajectories, and mobility strategies of Asians in America. We welcome evidence-based proposals from all social science disciplines and all methodological approaches.

Please click here for a full description of the topics covered in this call for articles.

Anticipated Timeline

Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract (up to two pages in length, single or double spaced) of their study along with up to two pages of supporting material (e.g., tables, figures, pictures, etc.) no later than 5 PM EST on December 11, 2023, to:

https://rsf.fluxx.io

NOTE that if you wish to submit an abstract and do not yet have an account with us, it can take up to 48 hours to get credentials, so please start your application at least two days before the deadline. All submissions must be original work that has not been previously published in part or in full. Only abstracts submitted to https://rsf.fluxx.io will be considered. Each paper will receive a $1,000 honorarium when the issue is published. All questions regarding this issue should be directed to Suzanne Nichols, Director of Publications, at journal@rsage.org.  Do not email the editors of the issue.

A conference will take place at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City on June 7, 2024. The selected contributors will gather for a one-day workshop to present draft papers (due a month prior to the conference on 5/3/24 ) and receive feedback from the other contributors and editors. Travel costs, food, and lodging for one author per paper will be covered by the foundation. Papers will be circulated before the conference. After the conference, the authors will submit their revised drafts by 10/2/24. The papers will then be sent out to three additional scholars for formal peer review. Having received feedback from reviewers and the RSF board, authors will revise their papers by 1/8/25. The full and final issue will be published in the fall of 2025. Papers will be published open access on the RSF website as well as in several digital repositories, including JSTOR and UPCC/Muse.

Talking about Organizations Podcast, New Episode on the CASBS Summer Institute on Organizational Effectiveness

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The latest episode of the Talking about Organizations Podcast is out.

106: The Study of Organizations Across Disciplines

This is a special episode in which we reflect on the question of how to build interdisciplinary spaces and dialogues across disciplines for the study of organizations. We sit down with Woody Powell and Bob Gibbons who, since 2016, have been organizing the Summer Institute on Organizational Effectiveness at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford. The episode focuses on the history of CASBS, the summer institute, and the value as well as challenges of fostering interdisciplinary conversations across economics, sociology, management, public policy, political science, information and communication studies, and related fields.

The broader podcast catalogue includes episodes on foundational texts and ideas in organization theory. All episodes are accessible on the main podcasting platforms, and further information is available on the website.

Job Posting: Open-Rank Position at Southern Methodist University

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Position No. 00053170. The Department of Sociology at Southern Methodist University invites applications for an open-rank position as department Chair to begin August 1, 2024 with the chairship to begin August 1, 2025. Applicants are particularly encouraged to apply if they can contribute to the university’s larger cluster hires in data science or urban studies. Faculty searches for urban studies are being conducted in the departments of Anthropology, Economics, Education, Political Science, Religious Studies, among others.

The Department of Sociology is among the larger degree-granting programs in Dedman College. We serve around 65 Sociology majors and minors and 90 Markets and Culture majors, an interdisciplinary economic sociology degree housed in Sociology. Forty percent of our students are from underrepresented groups. Housed in historic Hyer Hall overlooking the beautiful live oak-lined Dallas Hall Quad, our department is collegial with a strong history of working with McNair Scholars and offering courses that support other interdisciplinary majors in Health & Society and Human Rights and the Women’s and Gender Studies and Law and Legal Reasoning minors. Our faculty contribute to the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute’s research symposia and take advantage of the opportunity to live on campus in the residential commons as a Faculty-In-Residence and teach at our sister campus in the mountains of Taos, NM.

SMU is in a transformative period of expansion as the university approaches its goal of reaching the R-1 research tier. SMU’s Second Century Campaign was the largest fundraising initiative in SMU’s history, raising $1.15 billion by the end of 2015 and a new, $1.5 billion campaign, SMU Ignited, has begun. A series of interdisciplinary faculty cluster hires centering on urban studies, data science and high-performance computing, earth hazards and national security, and 21st century technology and education are introducing new collaborations among the faculty across the university and generating innovation in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, a culturally rich arts and global business center that is home to many universities, arts organizations and Fortune 500 corporations, and beyond.

Minimum Requirements
-PhD
-at least three years of administrative experience

Preferred Qualifications
-Ability to contribute courses toward the Markets and Culture major
-Experience teaching and mentoring diverse students

Applications must be submitted via Interfolio at http://apply.interfolio.com/112539 and should include a complete curriculum vitae and three letters of recommendation. SMU is an inclusive and intellectually vibrant community that values diverse research and creative agendas. Review of applications will begin November 1. To ensure full consideration for the position, the application must be received by October 30, but the committee will continue to accept applications until the position is filled. The committee will notify applicants of the employment decision after the position is filled.

Located near the center of Dallas, SMU is a private nonsectarian university of 12,000 students. SMU will not discriminate in any program or activity on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression. The Executive Director for Access and Equity/Title IX Coordinator is designated to handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies and may be reached at the Perkins Administration Building, Room 204, 6425 Boaz Lane, Dallas, TX 75205, 214-768-3601, accessequity@smu.edu.